In a rarity for professional sports, PWHL Toronto was put on the spot or given an opportunity, if one wants to look at the positive, in choosing its first-round opponent.
As the team that finished first overall, Toronto had the right to choose between third-place Boston and fourth-place Minnesota for it’s semifinal opponent.
After much debate, which included management, the coaching staff and players as well, Toronto elected to choose fourth-place Minnesota.
As head coach Troy Ryan shared with a collection of the league’s media on a Zoom call, the reasons for choosing Minnesota over Boston will be kept in house so as not to provide further motivation, but suffice to say the process was a lengthy one and one Toronto did not take lightly.
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“It was definitely not an easy decision,” Toronto GM Gina Kingsbury said. “There is no easy opponent in this league. We looked at all different angles. We talked to our leadership group and leaned on our athletes, just what they are feeling and how they feel against all of these opponents that we got to choose from. Obviously looked at the analytics and numbers and how we matched up against these teams throughout the season.
“You also want to look at the (recent play of opponents) and how they are doing at this time frame of the season. Travel came into play, too. What did that look like? Where do we feel comfortable travelling to?”
Minnesota head coach Ken Klee believes Toronto made the obvious choice.
“It’s as easy as who has the toughest travel and, for me, we have the toughest travel,” he said. “That’s (the decision from Toronto) I expected, but we are excited.”
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Minnesota lost it’s final five regular season games, earning its playoff berth on a much more productive and successful early portion of its season. In a bit of an ironic twist, Minnesota’s playoff ticket got punched when Toronto defeated Ottawa in the final regular season game.
Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield was on the call as well and admitted she was scrambling to lock down both a babysitter and a dogsitter for a Tuesday flight that was still being worked out by team officials.
Game 1 of the Toronto-Minnesota series goes Wednesday at Coca-Cola Coliseum with a 7 p.m. puck drop. The other semifinal featuring Montreal and Boston opens Thursday at Place Bell, also at 7 p.m.
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